MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
Weeks into the Derek Chauvin trial, protests in Brooklyn City,
Minnesota were set off by the shooting of 20-year-old New Afrikan Daunte
Wright during a traffic stop. The pig who shot him claims she thought
she had pulled her taser. People braved the snow and freezing
temperatures night after night, resisting the curfew that was put in
place by the fascist pigs. They chanted “fuck the police!” and “fuck
your curfew!” as cops shot tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowds
of hundreds to thousands of people.
As we go to press, the pig who killed George Floyd has been charged
with 2nd degree murder. Derek Chauvin assassinated Floyd on 25 May 2020
by kneeling on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
This verdict doesn’t change the fact that over 1,100 people were
killed by pigs outside of prison in 2020, and that that is consistent
with previous years. Of those, 121 were pulled over for mere traffic
violations like Daunte Wright. New Afrikans were 28% of those killed in
2020, despite being only 13% of the population. In cities like Chicago
and Minneapolis, New Afrikans were killed by cops at over 20 times the
rate of whites for 2013-2020. In that same period, no cops were charged
in 98.3% of killings.(1) While this data may be incomplete, behind
prison walls this information is even more hidden. United Struggle from
Within reminds our readers that Prisoners’ Lives Matter too, despite
being excluded from these statistics on murders by so-called “peace”
officers.
In May 2020, George Floyd’s murder righteously struck a nerve in many
people both in the United $tates and internationally. This lead to a
great awakening in international consciousness and exposed some heavy
contradictions concerning capitalism-imperialism and its facade of
democracy and human rights. We were shown that it is a dictatorship, and
just like all other political systems, its state representatives are
only there to uphold and enforce its class interests.
One of the most inspiring consequences of the killing of George Floyd
is how this is so relatable to so much of the world’s oppressed
communities and how so many of them not only showed their support for
New Afrikans in North America but used this as a catalyst to confront
their own bourgeois dictatorships. Just last month, Victoria Salazar of
El Salvador was killed by Mexican police by a knee pressing her neck
into the ground similar to George Floyd. In response, wimmin across the
country took to the streets, marching, performing street theatre and
sometimes clashing with police. Feminists protested both the rate of
femicide in the region as well as the militarized border patrols and
policing that create the conditions for killings like Salazar’s; tracing
it back to U.$. imperialism.
Even the bourgeoisie in China criticized how the United $tates
polices its Black population, saying, “Many people within the United
States actually have little confidence in the democracy of the United
States.”(2)
Despite these connections, the death of Mr. Floyd had little chance
of galvanizing itself to confront the U.$. bourgeois dictatorship or
threaten its rule. A few officers were scapegoated. One will be doing
prison time. And all Democrats and Republicans unanimously joined to
denounce the officer’s actions. Western imperialism was quick to send
out its talking heads and the Democratic Party to corral the people back
into bourgeois confines and to let the system administer the appropriate
“justice” through its judicial process. Then $27 million was given to
the family in a very public and biased way which could be a sign and
another way to placate the people. Sadly, Biden and the Democrats have
largely won over much of the “allies” of the oppressed and New Afrikans
in particular. A recent poll said that immediately after the uprising
60% said at least one pig “murdered” George, now it’s only 36%, which is
just a sign of how fickle and amorphous even “talk” of discontent for
how capitalism-imperialism treats the “other,” and how quick much of
Amerikkka wants to get back to business, ie. back to normal.(3)
The trial of Derek Chauvin was captivating. Many people, from many
backgrounds actually cared and tried to help George Floyd. Sadly, even
in the rare occasion when they are given prison time, none of the pigs
will be reformed. We know this because our own comrades who do want to
serve the people are not given any resources to reform in the current
prison system. This should only add to the list of reasons why
capitalism-imperialism must go not why we need to give it yet one more
chance, or worst still “push Biden further to the left.”
All comrades should be using their voice to build the
anti-imperialist united front and demanding class suicide from all
oppressed communities and justice-loving people in this country. It is
real in the field, fascism is no longer a misnomer. There are very large
swaths of the country who would love nothing more. The kid who murdered
the two protestors in Kenosha received $2 million in donations, which
just shows you what Amerikkkans think of the cries of its oppressed
citizens, and also what it thinks of its right-wing vigilantes.
Meanwhile Florida just passed a fascist bill that allows felony charges
for protestors for “rioting,” including up to 15 years for those who
damage or desecrate an historical monument. Meanwhile it protects
Amerikans who assault or kill protestors with a deadly weapon (an
automobile), a form of fascist vigilantism that has grown in recent
years. Then you have the recent voting rights bills, such as in Georgia,
to stop people from voting. This is a real crisis within the bourgeois
empire itself on how to rule; whether oppressed nations are allowed to
vote, or even to exist.
Mao said the basic law of dialectical-materialism is the unity of
opposites. The primary contradiction in imperialism is the oppressed
nations against the oppressor nations. Mao also said two cannot combine
into one. Only revolution and a seizure of the state apparatus by the
oppressed will ultimately transform this contradiction, yet we can and
should be working to transform all aspects of the contradiction short of
revolution we can in preparation for that time.
Amerikkka, or any First World nation, has no right to deny anyone a
share of its ill-gotten spoils. We should not get caught up in the
“lock-him-up” hysteria of this trial and instead demand and support a
true united front against this system and expose it as an utter failure.
We should be supporting the First Nations call of welcome to their
cousins from South and Central America and those from the global south.
The imperialists should not have undermined their governments and
resources. We should be uniting with the Asian and Pacific Islander
peoples’ struggles against national oppression, especially now, and
welcoming them to the table (we’ve sure missed them and need them).
Studying Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, applying dialectical materialism
and historical materialism, building a new culture using the method of
analysis and synthesis to critique and transform this gangster culture
and “bourgeois” criminal mentality into a revolutionary one, building
independent institutions to protect ourselves and avoid state repression
and even exposure as much as possible and effecting both the quality and
quantity of these contradictions amongst the people and the enemy.
There is nothing in the world but matter in motion and our current
social contradictions must be exploited by real materialists. We are
living through an historic moment, things are certainly in motion, and
we must affect the direction they move in. If we dare recognize our
collective enemy and transform our petty bourgeois “wanna-be” gangsta
mentality into one that is at least sympathetic to the revolutionary
process we can really change and exploit these contradictions so they
are more favorable to us.
If there is nothing to be made known of the affects the bourgeois
mis-education systems have on oppressed nations and internal
semi-colonies within the (un)United State of Amerika, there is one thing
that will give truth to power. The U.$. is a police state. The majority
of the general public is a cop guard regime, and all parts of amerikan
society are affected, and infected, with the virus of police-ism.
Popular politics revolve around contest between the identities of
so-called classes that don’t even relate itself to the revolutionary
workers and exploited labourer of the internationalist proletariat.
The common theme of the COVID-19 era has been, big ups to the
frontline workers, and first responders. But it shows how little
resistance there is for the bourgeoisie news and social media,
non-truths trend on instagram and snapchat while those who are truly
exploited – from the prison population to the homeless and migrant
labourer populations, the disenfranchised are steady marginalized into
social sub-sects of the lumpen-proletariat. It sucks having little
determination of one’s national independence. The oppressor nation has
the power to Jedi mind trick its internal populations into accepting
ideas of itself as suffering classes deserving of priority in the
distribution of natural resources, while semi-colonies die the slow
painful death. The U.$. has been sick long before the rise of COVID-19
imperialist world order.
Many on the liberal leftist side of Turtle Island remain hopeful of a
sudden shift in the exploiters justice system, and the economical
maneuvering of the petty bourgeoisie to redistribute wealth and
punishment in equality. Thing is hopefulness is unlogical in
circumstances that requires skepticism. It’s as critical as Vietnam, the
draft and Muhammad Ali, refusing to attend the appointment with jungles
of the Asian continent in the Amerikkkan draft. Chances are, most of
those within the internal semi-colonies of these United $nakes, with the
least to lose in breaking with the exploiter nation, they will be
drowned out by the noise campaigns of dress-up revolutionaries, culture
vultures, and agent provocateurs. The last being the most dangerous to
nationalist leaders of the First World Lumpen amongst Turtle Island’s
internationalist Maoist modeled groups.
Kicking
New Afrikan Internationalist Principles as a USW Leader
The bourgeois nationalists are able to quote the phrases of classical
revolutionary leaders and anti-imperialists but their necessities for
true internationalism is just a metamorphisized lesser form of activism;
never truly the form of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. As the U.$ofA
imperialist and parasitic capitalist are brutally proliferating, the
lies of the petty bourgeoisie are spread. These lies have become a sort
of plague that infects the minds of our youth de-socialized as First
World lumpen (FWL). True works of revolutionary nationalist culture are
suppressed. Today’s youth (including many FWL) run to the bourgeois
nationalist for education, and these ideas of reactionary, watered-down
nationalist politics of New Afrikan and Aztlán liberation, with
political jargon by Liberals’ approach to revolutionary action for
national liberation.
Subjugation, colonialism and neo-colonialism is the cause of certain
lack of knowledge. Then, with social media acting as the death alter,
sacrificing one’s youth to do something the world SEES, these so-called
nationalist and internationalists become inept, specifically when it
come time for true actions to spring forth from the FWL. Yet, there’s a
pattern throughout history for this. We see these individuals protesting
against certain injustices, but is it truly Revolutionary Suicide? Does
it liberate all beings subjugated?
Dialectical materialism is a concept that We’ve adapted to due to
Maoist Internationalist form of thinking. One must know how to formulate
a purpose of an ideology-movement. Once we’ve compared all past actions
of national liberation, next we take revolutionary action. But how does
the youth of today know the works of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, when their
grandparents and parents were fed misinformation about liberation? We
leave the youth no militant alternative but to turn to bourgeois
nationalism. These individuals that speak of half revolutionary truths.
They know the path of liberation, and what it will take to end
oppression in the world, but in their actions of so-called change these
bourgeois nationalist only aim to reform policies of subjugation. It’s
like asking to desegregate a school, but there’s still white/black,
girl/boy bathrooms, separating the ethnic groups of that school. We only
enable police policies, which aim to further the impression of
anti-socialism, capitalist-imperialistic psychology, determined
psychology because of how police-ism has become a philosophy that has
instinctively mingled with the psyche of certain amerikans, and as now
the psychology of most amerikans, including Blacks, Chican@, Asians and
First Nations.
#BLM/Black Lives Matter is an agenda that has attracted many
followers. But everything that is a trend has attracted many followers.
Just follow social media within the exploiter nation USA.com. The
Republic of New Afrika and Aztlán need to realize that if we continue to
separate the oppressed into subject classes and ethnic groups, their
nations will forever be tools of bourgeois nationalists.
These systems of oppression were constructed in the exploiter nations
constitution, a constitution bent on enslaving half of its population
and disenfranchising the rest into minorities. Bourgeois nationalists
disguised as bi-racial issue organizing groups. Protest that life or
these lives matter, but lets argue the case why the BLM agenda screams
Black Lives Matter, when more Blacks murder each other than so-called
police do year round? Though pigs murder of so-called black men and
women and children should be an issue addressed, it shouldn’t just be as
one particular race or class, when race doesn’t exist to be national
requirement of liberation and class struggle doesn’t really exist. The
majority of Amerikan society are cops, what’s there to struggle
over?
Take for example in other nations, like Palestine or Somalia, where
it is known there’s a military presence by the U$ofA Africom and other
oppressor nations, are all oppressing these independent national
struggles that are less armed than the colonialist military settlers.
The Liberal left of the U.$. scream pro-choice but in turn dictate to
Third World womyn what they can or cannot do with their bodies. How is
this pro-choice?? This is dividing the oppressed nations. And don’t
mention the sterilization methods of U.$. state prisons, used against
female prisoners to destroy reproductive powers of social rejects.
When FWL proletariat eradicate the pig system of abuse and instead
begin building platforms to proliferate the ideas of MIM, nationalist
organizers amongst lumpen organizations will have the voice of the
people in the revolutionary objective.
With practical application of class disturbance, integration with the
masses, and rigorous international study of Maoist theory, relevant to
revolutionary history, with understanding of the nature of fighting and
serving the people economically, we’ll address the flow of wealth that
exploiters use to control world-wide populations.
Serving the oppressed in the First World, amongst the First Nation
semi-colonies, tribes and lumpen organizations, means to eradicate
super-exploiter systems and bourgeois nationalist personalities who
advocate for said exploiting Amerikans. They won’t accept responsibility
in the crimes against First Nation populations. They will hide and
advocate increased police-ism reform vs. defund city council and police
unions satisfying their guilty conscious with exploitation by the lesser
of two evils.
Reformist and revisionist Black Lives Matter nationalists need to
take their method of study and use it to shapeshift into an ideology, or
philosophy that leads to MIM. These must become the FWL youths’
alternatives to ushering in a socialist revolution.
Global
Jubilee and Reparations to Africans in CA, USA
In the United $tates of Amerikkka, Black New Afrikan George Floyd has
their face plastered across the walls of convenience stores within the
territories of occupied Dakota, Aztlán, New Afrika, and Makesh. But the
true question is what will it take to unite the multitudes of FWL that
lumpen leaders like G. Floyd mentored?
The pop culture of police-ism disguised as socialist nation building
must be struggled against. Using the unity of fact checking and
scientific decision making, leaders strengthen national resources like
the independent institutions of learning, healthcare, labor, housing and
entertainment. Not to fall into the politrix of revisionist co-opting
for a lesser slice of servitude.
As USA.com states like California are manufacturing legislative
measures like the African-American Reparations Bill to wave liability of
wrongs committed against indentured servants/slave laborers of the
Afrikan diaspora. There will be no reconciliations between New Afrikans
and the oppressor nation pig regimes, unless the pigs swallow the cliff
edge of the square they so gladly occupy. In by none but armed struggle
will national reparations for all of New Afrika be possible, including
We imprisoned.
The death rate of oppressed nation prisoners, a number that is still
hidden from us, is part of what classifies them as semi-colonies,
members of the lumpen proletariat by the political targeting of cop
patrols disguised as social welfare workers. The fact remains the same
prisoners exposed to COVID-19 suffer physical attacks form the cop
union. The only way to mediate the national contradiction is to arm the
prisoners re-entering society with a distrust for integration with a
system that has deliberately exposed them to a terminal disease.
National liberation for fighters in the First World must materialize
into stronger leanings towards the culture of anti-police-ism,
struggling against increased police occupation of internal semi-colonies
disguised as national liberation healthcare relief or economic rescue
plans. It’s a trap, B. Don’t eat the swine of the captors, invaders from
the petty bourgeoisie. None of what the pig state offers will appreciate
in time. The military presence of the U.$. army brigades and national
guard’s COVID welfare systems are surely signs of the time.
Be mindful, stay watching and prepare to fight! Uhuru Sasa!!!
The seizure of the Capitol on 6 January 2021 was the culmination of
oppressor nation organizing over years that has proven the continued
need for New Democratic revolution here in North America, what many
First Nations people today call occupied Turtle Island. Participants in
the siege donned racist Odinist tattoos, pro-holocaust slogans,
anti-China signs, and waved pro-slavery and nazi flags. Most had
Amerikan flags or pro-Trump flags, hats and shirts. They included QAnon
followers, Tea Party members, elected officials, Proud Boys, and leaders
of a number of fascist organizations and groupings.
Media reported five deaths, including one U.S. Capitol Police officer
and four pro-Trump rioters. Those killed during the siege included a
womyn shot by security for trying to crawl through a smashed window to
get to the Senators, a man who reportedly tasered himself to death while
trying to steal a painting off the wall and a cop who was beaten to
death with sticks, including one carrying an Amerikan flag, while the
audience sang The Star-Spangled Banner. The latter, Brian
Sicknick, served the imperialist army in Afghanistan and was an
outspoken supporter of President Trump.(1)
The group who laid siege to the Capitol did so in response to calls
from President Trump to oppose the election results that has Joe Biden
scheduled to replace him on 20 January. As the mob took swings at police
and smashed through barricades, they chanted, “USA, USA!”, “Stop the
Steal” and called out the Democrats and CNN as primary targets of their
anger. By denying the outcome of the election, this organized force is
allied with efforts to deny New Afrikans, and other oppressed groups,
the vote. These front-line Trump supporters militantly deny the right of
Chican@s to even exist on their own land, not to mention control it. And
they generally support the incursion of multinational corporations into
the small fragments of territory left to the other indigenous peoples of
this continent. They want to keep Muslims and Asians out of the United
$tates, whether its because of terrorism, a virus, or some other
semi-factual excuse for xenophobia. They fear the browning of the U.$.
population.
Regarding the vote, the shift of Georgia from Republican to Democrat
marked for these settlers another step towards the end of white
domination on occupied Turtle Island. Newly-elected Senator Raphael
Warnock is the first Black senator in the state of Georgia, which was
31.94% New Afrikan and 51.82% white (“non-hispanic”) in 2019 (in a
country that is about 12% New Afrikan overall). In recent years,
“non-hispanic” whites have only accounted for about 44% of births in the
state.(2). Warnock comes from the same church as Martin Luther King Jr.,
where Warnock was Pastor for former representative John Lewis. MLK of
course was a symbol of multicultural integration that brought much ire
and hatred during eir short life, leading to eir assassination. The
current period is the culmination of the reaction to the attempts by the
bourgeois state to incorporate those ideas of King’s into the empire.
After the abolition of slavery, the Federal government made the first
attempt at granting New Afrika democratic rights and full citizenship by
imposing Reconstruction policies on the southern states. These were
mostly undone by white settlers by the by the 1876 presidential
election, which led to the Jim Crow policies(3) (maintained by violent
voter suppression of New Afrikans) until the time of MLK and the Black
Panther Party. The movement today is to undo the progress of integration
that followed the civil rights and national liberation movements of the
1960s. Rioters literally marched confederate flags through the Capitol,
after fighting their way in, in 2021.
In 2020, Georgia also saw shows of force from New Afrikan militia,
and
lumpen
organizations coming together to seize the site of a police murder,
and defend from threats by groups like the 3 Percenters and Ku Klux Klan
from coming into Atlanta.(4) While New Afrikans band together in
self-defense, the oppressor nation has made it clear they are now on the
offense with their seizure of the U.$. Capitol. They brought firearms,
pipe bombs and nooses as they called for the blood of Vice President
Mike Pence and others. Men who entered the Capitol carried fire arms and
one had seized zip tie handcuffs, ready to take hostages and possibly
assassinate Federal representatives, including the Vice President. When
officials escaped, the intruders settled for posing for photos in their
office chairs and taking memorabilia off the Senators’ desks and
walls.
Economics of the Crisis
Social media posts by leaders promoting the action on 6 January are
also calling for the assassination of Mitch McConnell and Republicans in
general for blocking the $2000 stimulus check currently backed by Trump
and the Democratic Congressional leadership. The battle over stimulus
funding (to respond to COVID-19 restrictions) in recent weeks has been a
great demonstration of the relationship between classes under
imperialism. The wealth flowing into this country is split between the
imperialists and the rest of the population. The stimulus bills were a
clear demonstration of this, with big corporations getting 100s of
millions to billions in benefits, while the rest of the country averaged
thousands of dollars per persyn. Most people in the world received
little to no money.
The printing of money by the U.$. central bank since the beginning of
the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented in history. With so many more
dollars in circulation, economists wonder whether this money can be
exchanged for goods at the value one would expect. Many Third World
countries have seen depreciation of their currencies compared to the
U.$. dollar as finance capital left those countries in response to the
pandemic. For the dollar to maintain its value, the empire must stay
strong. We’ve already seen a decrease in Japanese and Chinese finance
capital from U.$. treasuries in the last year.(5) Japan and China are
the two largest foreign holders of U.$. treasuries.
The people of Weimar Germany (prior to the popular Nazi takeover)
faced conditions where what they were paid one day could not buy a loaf
of bread the next. This was due to having lost WWI and facing sanctions
from other imperialist countries. The U.$. has not yet faced this
problem, but they are having to do more to stabilize their own currency
and economy. If the white nationalists had their way, and productive
labor from Latin America and Asia was forced out of U.$. borders, we
would see the dollar decrease in value very quickly. While dollar values
have not declined yet, the situation is quite precarious, especially as
productive output of the economy remains slow.
What Will Happen Next?
Senators who were calling the election a fraud backed off immediately
following the siege, proving it was just a popularity game to them. Yet
some who forced their way into the Capitol, came ready to die that day.
This is curious, as economic conditions in this country do not yet
warrant such extremism, especially for the demographic showing up at
these demonstrations. Many on the front lines of the siege are steeped
in conspiracy theories. These theories tap into a deep existential fear
they have of the ending of their white country. Something many of them
feel has already happened.
While the attacks of 9/11 were a blow to the sense that Amerikans
could have their fingers in every other part of the world, while staying
safe at home, the response was a show of strength through Amerikan
nationalism. Since then, the U.$. image continued to decline with more
lost wars and humyn rights abuses abroad and at home. This week’s attack
on the Capitol marks an internal weakening from within.
There is no god coming down to purify the crackers’ souls in the
rapture. Nor can Turner Diary-style fantasies resolve the contradictions
that define this imperialist country. A re-civilization of the oppressor
nations must come from the hands of the oppressed. Having one side of
the oppressor nation try to cajole the other into giving the oppressed
what they think they need, or rather what they think will appease, has
proven ineffective over the last 150 years. The oppressed nations
occupied on this land must seize their own destinies. They must rise up
for a New Democracy, where they as sovereign peoples can decide how to
solve their own problems without the constant oversight and interference
of the euro-Amerikan.
We support the continued development of New Afrikan defense
organizing in places like Atlanta, that is based in real revolutionary
nationalism – which as Mao said is applied internationalism. We
re-iterate the call for Barrio Committees in Aztlan, as outlined in the
book Chican@
Power and the Struggle for Aztlán. We all need to connect with those
in our communities that are ready to respond.
With regards to those that are already familiar and well versed with
Marixt-Leninist-Maoist political philosophy, we must call for discipline
and centralized organization. Most major cities’ “radical scenes” are
dominated by anarcho-liberals who preach on voting for the Democratic
party one day and preach for militant direct action the next day. Even
amongst the more militant and anti-reformist anarchists, there are a lot
of poorly organized forms of violence that fleets in energy. Us
communists should work towards building independent institutions that
the people can go to to solve their daily material problems – not have
loosely affiliated cliques that serve themselves more than the
masses.
Another test of principled actions that many communists failed was
the reliance and aid to the existing bourgeois institutions such as the
FBI and the police. Many radical liberals online have resorted to
identifying the Capitol Hill fascists for the police agencies while also
hoping these police institutions can repress the fascist movement. The
Communist Party of India (Maoist) have had the correct response to this
regarding the issue of rape in the country of India. Whereas
petty-bourgeois movements call for the death penalty and stronger
punishments for rapists in the semi-feudal country, the Maoists
recognize that rape is not alien to the system and stronger state forces
against these anti-people crimes will result in stronger state
repression against the masses.(6) And just like how relying on the
bourgeois state to give justice in India will result in the repression
against the masses, these acts by radical liberals of relying on the FBI
and the police departments will only result in more surveillance and
crackdowns on the oppressed people.
In the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the glaringly ugly nature of
amerikkkan exceptionalism and arrogance has been on full display. The
simple and non-threatening acts of staying home and/or wearing PPE
(masks) have become rallying points for reactionary patriotic elements.
For this reason, occupied Turtle Island has become the world leader in
COVID cases even though the imperialist regime had ample time to prepare
for the virus.
With this understanding, it is only logical that people cannot rely
on parasites and pigs to secure their health. It, like all aspects of
our lives, is most effectively met by the people ourselves.
In May, Republican governor of South Dakota Kristi Noem threatened to
sue the Lakota Nation or rely on the U.$. government to use violence to
take down the Lakota’s Emergency Health Points on their home lands.
Due in part to fear of the negative reaction from Republican
constituents and their mass base, as well as fundamental
capitalist-imperialist unbridled greed, Noem refused to issue
stay-at-home orders. Such ineptitude placed all South Dakota residents
at risk, but especially our First Nation siblings and comrades as
they’re a marginalized people.
In light of this development, and understanding the hystory of
bio-chemical warfare and its role in the genocide of indigenous nations,
the Oglala Lakota Nation pro-actively insulated themselves on the Pine
Ridge Reservation. The Emergency Health Points ensured that outsiders
couldn’t bring the new sickness (COVID-19) to their home.
The Emergency Health Points, allowed no one to come onto or leave
Pine Ridge, unless it was an essential activity. Those going and coming
were made to submit to a health questionnaire at the check points.
The Governor’s ultimatum was rightfully refused and the Lakota gave
an official written statement, “you continuing to interfere in our
efforts to do what science and facts dictate seriously undermine our
ability to protect everyone on the reservation.”
The oppressive nature of imperialism continues to undermine the
self-determination of First Nation peoples and oppressed nations
generally. For this reason, and to work towards the goal of tearing down
the imperialist system, New Afrikans and all oppressed nationalities
within the imperialist centers must unite in the spirit of collective
growth and internationalism, around our shared mission of
self-determination.
Let’s not forget, that it is this same Lakota Nation which has been a
thorn in the side of our shared enemy for almost 200 years. It was the
Lakota, led by Red Cloud, Chief of the Oglala Lakota, who dealt the
United $tates its first military defeat in 1868. In retaliation and due
to ongoing resistance, it was this same nation who the 7th cavalry
massacred at Wounded Knee on 29 December 1890.
Fast forward to the early 1970s with the siege of Wounded Knee and
the following COINTELPRO carried out against the American Indian
Movement and its supporters on and around the Pine Ridge reservation.
This operation led to the political imprisonment of Oglala warrior
Leonard Peltier. (An in-depth study of these events and the
imperialists’ war on the Lakota people can be read in the book
Agents of Repression by Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall
available from MIM(Prisons) for $10 or work trade.)
Leonard Peltier just turned 76. Free Leonard Peltier!
With the understanding of the Lakota’s specific circumstances and
their hystory of resistance against the occupying forces I call on
all revolutionaries and people who respect the
sovereignty of the First Nations of Turtle Island to raise your voices
and shine a light on this issue. Being on reservations, our siblings and
comrades are often hindered from garnering proper media attention or
solidarity support. The mistake of past generations of oppressed nation
fighters was that of failing to support each other’s causes in all
aspects (militarily, economically, socially and politically). We end
that practice now. In the spirit of true proletarian
internationalism.
Clench fist salute to all the First Nation warriors who’ve not sold
out the great War for freedom.
source: 1. The Five Percenter Newspaper, Volume 25.6,
pg.10.
by MIM(Prisons) August 2020 permalink A Critique of Maoist Reason J. Moufawad-Paul Foreign
Languages Press 2020
A Critique of Maoist Reason serves as a follow up to Continuity
and Rupture, as a way to both sum up the different trends in Maoist
thought within occupied Turtle Island and to respond to the critiques of
the earlier book. As the latest book gives a more proper address to MIM
Thought, we thought it important to read and respond.
Again on Maoism-Third
Worldism
In a recent interview, JMP flippantly rejects our complaint that MIM
Thought was referred to as “Maoist Third Worldism” in Continuity and
Rupture. To reiterate from our last review, this is an ahistoric
application of the term. As we said in one of our founding documents, Maoism
Around Us, we opposed the term for two reasons. The first is
fundamental to the arguments made in Continuity and Rupture as
to the path of development of revolutionary science. We argued that
there could be no new stage without new practice that supersedes the
past. MIM has never suggested such a thing, and the term was coined
after the original MIM dissolved.
The second reason, that recent works by JMP and the online journal
Struggle Sessions seem to take advantage of, is that by calling
our line something other than Marxism-Leninism-Maoism you can otherize
it and make it seem more fringe. This new book from JMP serves to place
the RIM strain of “Maoism” as the most legit one, and paints MIM as a
“shadow Maoism.”
A Falsifiable Thesis
Other than making some of the common arguments made against MIM’s
thesis on the labor aristocracy, JMP’s philosophical argument against
our line is that it is not falsifiable. This appears to be a
tautological argument based in some of the lines shared by JMP and
Struggle Sessions. Yet, it would be easy to falsify our thesis
by organizing petty bourgeois First Worlders (who they call proletariat)
to overthrow imperialism; the very thing such projects claim to be
working towards. We’ll gladly follow the leadership of anyone who does
this.
JMP writes,
“What ultimately disqualifies MTW [Maoism-Third Worldism] from
correctly representing Maoist reason is that it has no logical basis
upon which to develop its theoretical insights. If there is no
proletariat in the imperialist metropoles, and thus no proletarian
movement, the first world third worldist cannot make a correct
assessment of anything since it cannot practice the mass line. With no
revolutionary masses in which to embed a revolutionary movement (because
these revolutionary masses are elsewhere) how can it test its ideas,
struggle with the masses, and thus develop theory through practice?
Considering that MTW disagrees with the assessments of the most
significant third world Maoist movements regarding the first world
proletariat, it is not as if it is learning from the revolutionary
masses it claims to valorize, either. Thus, even if MTW is correct it
has no way of knowing it is correct, or developing a theory regarding
its correctness, since it has no means of testing these ideas in
practice. That is, MTW is not falsifiable and thus not scientific. And
if it is not scientific then it is disqualified from Maoist
reason.”(p.91)
JMP is saying that since MIM(Prisons) asserts that the First World
has no masses to do mass line with, we cannot come to the correct
position to guide communist practice.
Our claims however, are far from this. Our claim is that the masses
here are a minority force: they are oppressed nation, they are migrants,
they are prisoners, etc. We have been saying this for many years, yet
JMP ignores this line and claims that we do not believe that anyone is
oppressed in the First World. We don’t claim that there is no masses
here, we claim that the constantly dying imperialist system needs to
fall in order for proletarianization of the labor aristocracy to
happen.
To support our claims we look at history, not just abstract economic
models as JMP implies. It’s been over a hundred years since the first
successful revolution leading to a dictatorship of the proletariat. Of
all the efforts since then, that reached different levels of success,
how many occurred in an imperialist country where most people own homes
that value 6 digits in U.$. dollars, automobiles, have access to any
food from around the world, not to mention unlimited clean water and
practically uninterrupted electricity? Zero. So let’s flip the challenge
on our comrades who believe that there is a majority proletariat in the
First World and ask them to falsify our thesis by waging a revolution
from within these countries. Because from where we’re standing, the
historical evidence seems to be on our side so far.
Second, as the prison ministry (the most public cell representing MIM
line at this time), we can say that developing mass line is central to
what we do. A typical MIM(Prisons) cadre will interact with 100s of
imprisoned lumpen a month. And we synthesize the best ideas through our
newsletter and other work, providing ideological leadership for a prison
movement that is true to anti-imperialism and the international
proletariat. Our practice quickly dispenses with the premise that we
cannot develop mass line in the United $tates.
Assuming that our critics cannot achieve a successful First World
proletarian revolution, the question then becomes how will socialism
come to countries like the United $tates? How will proletarianization of
the labor aristocracy happen? Our movement has offered some theories on
how that might transpire. And the future will either validate or falsify
those theories. If there is a significant delinking of the exploited
countries from the imperialist system before any revolutions happen in
the core countries, then we must conclude that their thesis has been
falsified. If revolutions in the core countries requires military
support from the existing socialist countries to install a dictatorship
of the proletariat in those core countries, then certainly we will have
falsified their thesis.
These are some examples of how our line will either be validated or
falsified in the future. It is a dogmatic position to put some universal
model for how revolution must occur onto all countries.
It is circular logic to say that there must be a majority proletariat
for revolutionary science to be applied, and revolutionary science is
universal, therefore there must be a majority proletariat everywhere.
It’s hard to see how JMP’s point can stand without this circular
logic.
Drawing Class Lines
Unlike the other strands of “Maoism” criticized in the book, JMP is
careful to recognize that MIM made real theoretical contributions and
goes so far to say that it would be revisionism to deny that imperialism
transfers wealth from some nations to others.
The question here is how do we draw lines between friends and
enemies? Relatedly, we might ask when does quantitative change in the
distribution of surplus value result in a qualitative change in
class?
Mathematically, the switch from an exploited group to a net exploiter
group is a qualitative change. However, the labor aristocracy is not
generally defined as being net exploiters per se. And the workers are
not conscious of when this theoretical point has been reached (as
evidenced by JMP’s statement that workers in the United $tates are
conscious of the belief that they are exploited, when in reality they
are not). As we have argued elsewhere, while there are workers who are
paid more than the value of their labor power in any country, it is a
very different phenomenon in the Third World than in the First. And this
is because class is colored by nation under imperialism. We see nation
as the principal contradiction, representing the identity that is
imperialism. So we find arguments against our global class analysis that
do not address the national question to be lacking.
Let’s be clear, MIM’s third cardinal principle (MIM has long used 3
cardinal principles to distinguish its line from others calling
themselves “communists”) is that “imperialism extracts super-profits
from the Third World and in part uses this wealth to buy off whole
populations of oppressor nation so-called workers. These so-called
workers bought off by imperialism form a new petty-bourgeoisie called
the labor aristocracy. These classes are not the principal vehicles to
advance Maoism within those countries because their standard of living
depend on imperialism.”
It is within imperialism that we find the qualitative difference that
this labor aristocracy has with workers outside the imperialist core
countries. It is not because First World people fought harder for higher
wages, or First World companies are more democratic and offer higher
wages, it’s not because white people are evil; it is the system of
imperialism that puts some nations in a position of receiving surplus
value and others of losing. Those who gain tend to support the system
and those who lose tend to oppose it.
As an aside, settler-colonialism is one form of this, which defines
occupied Turtle Island. While we welcome the surge in interest in
dismantling settler-colonialism, we must recognize it as one form of
imperialism. We find many who want to “de-colonize” without recognizing
the global class structure for what it is. We also have those like JMP
who acknowledge the economic structure of imperialism, but for some
reason don’t think it changes who are our friends and who are our
enemies.
While the academic economic models of Marxism may not inform the
class consciousness of the labor aristocracy, relative deprivation does.
And there is nothing that symbolizes that divide in relative wealth more
than the imperialist country borders. Closing core country borders
happens to be an issue that has garnered much support from the labor
aristocracies of the United $tates and United Kingdom, as well as in
France and Germany in recent years. Do Brexit and “Build the Wall” not
symbolize enemy ideologies? Are the labor aristocracies of these
countries wrong that open borders would prevent them from hoarding
wealth in those countries? How does JMP reconcile this political reality
with his dogmatic thesis of a revolutionary proletariat in the First
World?
JMP asks, “is it implicitly”first worldist” to argue that there is a
proletariat at the centres of capitalism and go out to organize, for
example, miners around a communist ideology that is also
anti-imperialist?”
Organizing miners in the First World against imperialism sounds
great. But if you are arguing that they are the exploited proletariat
who deserve more money, when they are actually benefiting from
imperialist exploitation of the Third World, then you are not organizing
against imperialism, are you? It just doesn’t follow that JMP sees the
transfer of value in favor of a group from a system and then argues that
that group is going to be opposed to that system. The question here
isn’t primarily about who to organize, though certainly
focusing on the right groups will get us further faster, but rather
what to organize around that will push anti-imperialism
forward. Perhaps the miners are allied with anti-imperialism for reasons
external to income and raw value transfer, such as carbon emissions. To
organize them around a radical transformation of our energy system being
led by the international proletariat could be a form united front work,
but not organizing the proletariat itself.
A Global
Anti-Imperialist United Front
One thing we learn from this book is some of the differences between
JMP and those who use the term “principally Maoism,” specifically the
blog Struggle Sessions. Obviously one should read the latter’s
writings to get their real views. However, one difference addressed is
that the former sees the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM)
as the historical event that solidified Maoism, while the latter sees
the Peruvian Communist Party as having done so alone and the RIM as a
rightest deviation.
Our counter-history of Maoism was presented in our last response to
JMP, where we get into the RIM in more depth and our arguments against
the practice of forming a Communist International. While Struggle
Sessions has some significant agreement with our critiques of the
RIM and its role, they actively promote the formation of a new
International, as does JMP. In this latest book, JMP concedes that the
RCP=U$A sought to and to an extent did control the RIM. To be clear, we
did not argue that other parties in the RIM did not have any
independence or basis outside of the RIM, we specifically said not all
members were revisionists. But those calling for U.$. intervention in
Iran certainly were, and such a position should not be up for debate or
tolerated among communists.
On page 86, JMP implies that MIM blames the RIM for the failure of
the People’s War in Peru. That is not a position that we recall from
MIM’s work at the time. Certainly they harshly criticized the RIM for
its role in endangering the People’s War after the capture of Gonzalo.
This was perhaps one of the most horrific actions in the RCP’s long
history of anti-proletarian work, but JMP has nothing to say about
it.
Our general complaint with the International model is that it tends
to subsume one party under another. Mao fleshed out the theory and
practice around the united front within China and learned through hard
experience in relating to the Soviet Union, principles that we take to
be universal, including the need for the leaders of each liberation
movement to interpret their own conditions. To the extent that RIM was a
think tank that allowed communists from around the world to come
together and agree to the basic principles that defined the latest stage
of revolutionary science, we would support such a project. MIM
participated in such forums in its original form.
It was in the work of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)
that we saw the theory of the united front from Mao summed up and
reproven in practice in their rectification campaign. This struggle
waged in 1992 stressed the importance of the independence and leadership
role of the proletarian party in the national liberation struggle. The
decision of the CPP to not join the RIM reflects the recognition of the
need for independence of each national struggle. This is a line point
where we agree with the CPP against others in the international
communist movement (ICM) who did join.
At the same time, MIM harshly criticized CPP complacency in pushing
a revisionist class analysis within the United $tates. JMP argues
that the global class analysis of MIM is rejected by all Third World
communists of significance and this is evidence against our position.
Yet, we have yet to see any analysis from any of these parties
substantiating claims against MIM line; amounting to an argument from
authority.
Because the Third World communist parties rightfully have more cred,
many will presume they are right about this and follow their lead when
they call for uniting the “working class” in North America and denying
the national liberation struggles of the internal semi-colonies. The
open and conscious rejection of MIP-Amerika’s analysis of its own
country by certain Third World leaders, followed by their promotion of
the integrationist line, was behind MIM’s decision to say that the
global class analysis must be a dividing line question within the Maoist
movement globally.
Without a communist international, comrades in the United $tates are
free to combat incorrect lines being promoted from other countries and
prove our line in practice. Despite whatever great accomplishments
certain members of the RIM may have had, we think joining an
international was a mistake, proven in practice once again, with the
RCP=U$A-run CoRIM promoting revisionism at a crucial point in the
history of People’s War in Peru.
MIM Thought also provides insights here beyond the general point of
the need for independent development on the national level. An
application of MIM Thought to parties in the Third World is that there’s
more enemies than friends in the imperialist countries, and people from
those countries should be treated as potential spies. PCP practice in
expelling Non-Governmental Organizations from territories they
controlled was in line with this.
Going back to the theoretical miner example above, we apply the
theory of united front to unite all who can be united. And we
can frame the global anti-imperialist united front within our global
class analysis. We can look to the internal semi-colonies and the Third
World diaspora as the most likely allies in the First World, without
calling them proletariat. And we can win over sectors of the oppressor
nation as well, just as in everything, 1 divides into 2. So we disagree
with the implied criticism of our line that there is no real proletariat
in the First World to mean there is no organizing against imperialism
that can be done here. Certainly staying on the correct path will
require an active eye on the Third World proletariat, which our movement
has always stressed.
MIM(Prisons) continues to develop the mass line here in the belly of
the beast. We continue to promote organizing against imperialism in a
principled way that puts the interests of the exploited and oppressed at
the forefront. And we challenge JMP, the supporters of eir line,
Struggle Sessions or anyone else who thinks they can apply
Maoism to occupied Turtle Island while ignoring that the vast majority
of people here have a material interest in imperialism, to prove us
wrong. Please, just don’t awaken the fascists in your attempt to do so,
with your cries about the exploited Amerikan.
We see now in these times a great number of mass movements springing up
and struggling for particular causes. A new generation of activists
forming and struggling against ever more specific issues. For almost any
social issue affecting anyone in the United $tates today you will find
some type of movement underway to combat it. From racism, sexism,
religious intolerance, wages, to police brutality, prison reform and
sentencing reform, etc.
These kinds of issues have more or less always existed here in the
United $tates and mass movements have more or less always accompanied
them. However, not much has been accomplished. Every one of these issues
and forms of oppression continue to plague society, with some of them
becoming even more acute. Of course, to many, much has appeared to have
changed; with some reforms made and concessions given, the great tactic
of pacification and distraction has been utilized. But after generations
of struggle and “victories” (reforms) why is it that these problems
continue to exist?
These things are like weeds: you can chop them down and it may appear as
if they have been removed or cut so low that they are no longer
perceived as problems, but they grow right back because the roots were
not ripped out. This leaves one mowing the same patch of weeds week
after week.
All social movements that aren’t struggling to eliminate the root cause
of these forms of oppression are only battling non-principal
contradictions. This doesn’t mean that these issues aren’t important, it
just means that they are merely effects of the principal contradictions,
not their cause. They are by-products of the system that, like weeds,
constantly reproduces itself so long as its base remains intact.
What is the base from which these non-principal contradictions
originate? It is the mode of production: capitalism. It is the economic
base that created and perpetuates these forms of oppression people
continue to fight. What people continue to fight is the superstructure
that protrudes from the base. But these types of struggles will be an
eternal one if we continue to fight what appears to be the cause of
oppression instead of its essence.
Karl Marx’s scientific study of history, and sociology in particular,
allowed him to demonstrate how our material conditions determine our
social relations with each other. Let’s hear Marx putting forth this
concept:
“Assume a particular state of development in the productive faculties of
man and you will get a particular form of commerce and consumption.
Assume particular stages of development in production, commerce, and
consumption and you will have a corresponding social constitution, a
corresponding organization of the family, of orders or of classes, in a
word, a corresponding civil society. Assume a particular civil society
and you will get particular political conditions which are only the
official expression of civil society.”
So goes the materialist conception of history. But we don’t have to take
Marx’s word for it. We can analyze history and see for ourselves how
each different stage of development of the productive forces and the
mode that these forces were subsumed produced its own social relations
peculiar to that mode of production. And with that, its own
contradictions, whether they be manifested in culture, class, gender,
“race,” etc. This demonstrates that our material relations have been the
basis of our relations.
This is the concept of the base (mode of production) producing the
superstructure (social relations, politics, laws, ideology, morality,
desires, etc.). We use this concept to show that a lot of the forms of
oppression that we struggle against are produced by the nature of the
economic foundation that we are dominated by. It has produced and
continues to reproduce these contradictions. Now it is systemic. If we
are ever going to end racism, sexism, imperialism, mass imprisonment,
poverty, hunger, etc., then we have to eliminate the thing that causes
them.
Our movements must consolidate their efforts to attack the base. We have
the valence, we just need to help the people make these connections.
Everything is connected in some way to the economic base, its mode of
production and distribution. Capitalism’s system of “all against all”
has created these contradictions we face. With colonialism, imperialism,
and especially now with neo-colonialism, many new contradictions and
forms of oppression have sprung up that can cloud our vision. But we
can’t continue to concentrate great amounts of our energy and resources
in fighting the non-principal contradictions that don’t target the
system directly.
It is of course understood that at certain moments a nation’s
contradictions that were non-principal before, or perhaps even
non-existent, can become principal contradictions. For example, in China
before/during Mao’s revolution Japanese imperialism was the principal
contradiction, but afterward new contradictions became acute due to the
ever-expanding nature of global capitalism.
In Vietnam before/during Ho Chi Minh’s liberation movement against
French colonialism, for the people of Vietnam colonialism was the
principal contradiction. Then came the fight against U.$. imperialism
which quickly became the principal contradiction. But these were
particular contradictions, not general ones.
Imperialism is an appendage of capitalism. When the courageous and
determined guerilla fighters of Vietnam defeated U.$. imperialism, they
did not end imperialism. They only ended U.$.-Vietnam imperialism.
The point is that while forms of oppression like imperialism can seem
like the principal contradiction to certain nations at certain times, it
can never truly be the principal contradiction overall. Even when China
fought Japanese imperialism, and to them it was the principal
contradiction, in the grand scheme of things it was not; it was the
interests that caused imperialism.
Imperialism can not truly be defeated until the imperialist
nations/empires undergo an internal revolution and the economic
interests that drive imperialism cease to be. So long as global
capitalism and the capitalist global market persists, imperialism will
always exist in some form; it will only be shifted from one nation that
defeats imperialism onto another, and that cycle will continue.
To rid all oppressed nations of imperialist aggression we’ve got to rid
the imperialist nations of the mode of production (capitalism) that
makes imperialism necessary.
Of course, we must always continue to demonstrate against the
by-products of capitalism, the non-principal contradictions. But in
doing so we have to consolidate these movements and establish a
consensus of consciousness so that while we continue to fight everyday
oppression we can also understand that the fight is really much bigger
and we have to all know what the cause of these forms of oppression is.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This is a great explanation of the
nature of capitalism and why reformist and even individual
anti-imperialist battles don’t result in the immediate end of
oppression. To do that, it’s important to define the principal
contradiction within any struggle. The principal contradiction is the
thing that will push forward a struggle the most. It is the highest
priority contradiction, the one that revolutionaries must focus their
energy on. It is the string we can pull to unravel the whole situation.
And so it’s the most important contradiction to focus on right now.
As this author points out, in revolutionary war, as with the ones in
Vietnam and China, the principal contradiction is between the
imperialist occupying force and the oppressed masses. In the world today
overall we see the principal contradiction as between the imperialist
countries and the nations they oppress and exploit. In prison we can
identify the principal contradiction in a particular situation. For
instance when there is an ongoing battle between imprisoned lumpen orgs
then the principal contradiction in that prison might be between two
lumpen organizations. That doesn’t mean it will be the principal
contradiction forever. If we achieve peace between the warring lumpen
groups, the new principal contradiction may be between the lumpen and
the state.
We agree with this writer on the fundamental importance of the
contradiction of capitalism. We say that the class contradiction, which
under capitalism is between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, is the
fundamental contradiction. This means it underlies all other
contradictions within class society. As this author points out, this is
an important guiding principle because it helps us understand why one
successful revolution in one country won’t lead to the end of all
oppression, even within that country. This doesn’t, however, mean that
class is always the principal contradiction. In fact, as noted above,
the principal contradiction in the world today is between imperialist
countries and the exploited countries. And even within U.$. borders we
see the principal contradiction as between the oppressor and oppressed
nations.
By evaluating every situation scientifically we can figure out what is
the most important contradiction to focus our energy on. And in this way
we can best push forward the revolutionary movement.
While we frequently discuss gender oppression in the pages of Under
Lock & Key, most readers will notice a primary focus on national
oppression. This is intentional, as we see the resolution of the
national contradiction as the most successful path to ending all
oppression at this stage. But for any of our readers who like our focus
on nationalism, and have not taken the time to read
MIM
Theory 2/3: Gender and Revolutionary Feminism, i recommend you
take a look. It is in MT2/3 that MIM really dissected the
difference between class, nation and gender and justified its focus on
nation. Don’t just focus on nation because it’s more important to you
subjectively, understand why it is the top priority by reading MT
2/3.
All USW comrades should be working their way to the level 2 introductory
study program offered by MIM(Prisons). We start level 1 studying the
basics of scientific thinking. In level 2, we move on to study
Fundamental
Political Line of the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of
Prisons, which gives a good overview of the 3 strands of
oppression: class, nation and gender, and how they interact. This issue
of Under Lock & Key is intended to supplement that
theoretical material with some application to prison organizing and
contemporary current events. (Let us know if you want to sign up for the
study group.)
Academic Individualism vs. Revolutionary Science
Bourgeois individualism looks at race, class and gender as identities,
which are seen as natural categories that exist within each individual.
While proponents of identity politics generally recognize these concepts
have evolved over time, they generally do not explain how or why.
Dialectical materialists understand nation, class and gender as
dualities that evolved as humyn society developed. Under capitalism, the
class structure is defined by bourgeoisie exploiting proletarians. Class
looked different under feudalism or primitive communist societies. One
of the things Marx spent a lot of time doing is explaining how and why
class evolved the way it did. Engels also gave us an analysis of the
evolution of gender in The Origin of the Family, Private Property,
and the State.
One self-described “Marxist-Feminist critique of Intersectionality
Theory” points out that “theories of an ‘interlocking matrix of
oppressions,’ simply create a list of naturalized identities, abstracted
from their material and historical context.”(1) They do not provide a
framework for understanding how to overthrow the systems that are
imposing oppression on people, because they do not explain their causes.
This “Marxist” critic, however, falls into the class reductionist camp
that believes all oppression is rooted in class.
The MIM line is not class reductionist, rather we reduce oppression to
three main strands: nation, gender and class. This is still too limited
for the identity politics crowd. But when we dive into other types of
oppression that might be separate from nation, class and gender, we find
that they always come back to one of those categories. And this clarity
on the main strands of oppression allows us to develop a path to
success, by building on the historical experience of others who have
paved the way for our model.
While MIM is often associated with the class analysis of the First World
labor aristocracy, this was nothing really new. What MIM did that still
sets it apart from others, that we know of, is develop the first
revolutionary theory on sexual privilege. The class-reductionism of the
writer cited above is demonstrated in eir statement, “to be a ‘woman’
means to produce and reproduce a set of social relations through our
labor, or self-activity.”(2) MIM said that is class, but there is still
something separate called gender. While class is how humyns
relate in the production process, gender is how humyns relate in
non-productive/leisure time. And while biological reproductive ability
has historically shaped the divide between oppressor and oppressed in
the realm of gender, we put the material basis today in health
status.(3) This understanding is what allows us to see that things like
age, disability, sexual preference and trans/cis gender status all fall
in the gender strand of oppression.
Using “Feminism” to Bomb Nations
Militarism and imperialist invasion are antithetical to feminism. Yet
the imperialists successfully use propaganda that they wrap in
pseudo-feminism to promote the invasion of Third World countries again
and again. Sorting out the strands of oppression is key to consistent
anti-imperialism.
In MT 2/3, MIM condemned the pseudo-feminists by saying that
“supporting women who go to the courts with rape charges is white
supremacy.”(4) A recent Human Rights Watch report discussing alleged
widespread rape in the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea (DPRK) is
getting lots of traction in the Amerikkkan/Briti$h press.(5) This
campaign to demonize the DPRK is just like the campaign to imprison New
Afrikans, with potentially nuclear consequences. We have two leading
imperialist nations who committed genocide against an oppressed nation
touting information that is effectively pro-war propaganda for another
invasion and mass slaughter of that oppressed nation.
If it is true that rape is as widespread in the DPRK as in the United
$tates and Great Britain, then we also must ask what the situation of
wimmin would have been in the DPRK today if it were not for the
imperialist war and blockade on that country. In the 1950s, Korea was on
a very similar path as China. Socialism in China did more for wimmin’s
liberation than bourgeois feminists ever have. They increased wimmin’s
participation in government, surpassing the United $tates, rapidly
improved infant mortality rates, with Shanghai surpassing the rate of
New York, and eliminated the use of wimmin’s bodies in advertising and
pornography.(6)
An activist who is focused solely on ending rape will not see this. Of
course, a healthy dose of white nationalism helps one ignore the mass
slaughter of men, wimmin and children in the name of wimmin’s
liberation. So the strands do interact.
Distracted Senate Hearings
Recently, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh went through a hearing
before his appointment to assess accusations of sexual assault from his
past. This was a spectacle, with the sexual content making it
tantalizing to the public, rather than political content. Yes, the
debate is about a lifetime appointment to a very high-powered position,
that will affect the path of U.$. law. But there was no question of U.$.
law favoring an end to war, oppression or the exploitation of the
world’s majority. Those who rallied against Kavanaugh were mostly caught
up in Democratic Party politics, not actual feminism.
A quarter century ago, MIM was also disgusted by the hearings for
Clarence Thomas to be appointed a Supreme Court Justice, that were
dominated by questions about his sexual harassment of Anita Hill. Yet,
this was an event that became quite divisive within MIM and eventually
led to a consolidation of our movement’s materialist gender line.(7) It
was the intersection of nation with this display of gender oppression
that made that case different from the Kavanaugh one, because Thomas and
Hill are both New Afrikan. The minority line in this struggle was deemed
the “pro-paternialism position.”
The minority position was that MIM should stand with Anita Hill
because she was the victim/oppressed. The line that won out was that
Anita Hill was a petty-bourgeois cis-female in the First World, and was
not helpless or at risk of starvation if she did not work for Clarence
Thomas. While all MIM members would quickly jump on revisionists and
pork-chop nationalists, paternalism led those holding the minority
position to accept pseudo-feminism as something communists should stand
by, because they pitied the female who faced situations like this.
Similarly today, with the Kavanaugh appointment, we should not let
our subjective feelings about his treatment of wimmin confuse us into
thinking those rallying against him represent feminism overall.
Bourgeois theories and identity politics
The paternalistic line brings us back to identity politics. A politic
that says right and wrong can be determined by one’s gender, “race” or
other identity. The paternalist line will say things like only wimmin
can be raped or New Afrikans can’t “racially” oppress other people. In
its extreme forms it justifies any action of members of the oppressed
group.
Another form of identity politics is overdeterminism. The
overdeterministic
position is defined in our glossary as, “The idea that social
processes are all connected and that all of the aspects of society cause
each other, with none as the most important.”(8) The overdeterminist
will say “all oppressions are important so just work on your own. A
parallel in anti-racism is that white people should get in touch with
themselves first and work on their own racism.”(9) Again this is all
working from the framework of bourgeois individualism, which disempowers
people from transforming the system.
There is a paralyzing effect of the bourgeois theories that try to
persynalize struggles, and frame them in the question of “what’s in it
for me?” Communists have little concern for self when it comes to
political questions. To be a communist is to give oneself to the people,
and to struggle for that which will bring about a better future for all
people the fastest. While humyn knowledge can never be purely objective,
it is by applying
the
scientific method that we can be most objective and reach our goals
the quickest.(10)
Who goes there? Calling on the keepers of the last grey stone. There has
never been a time more appropriate for the gathering of the lost tribes
of the dark world. However, is it real when we chant out “Black Lives
Matter”? New Afrikans are launching the building bridges initiative of
United Struggle from Within (USW) with the objective of reviving the
Afrikan tradition of ‘each one teach one’/‘go a mile to reach one’. The
most relevant topic that one comrade raises is to question “Does Black
Lives Matter (BLM) when it is at the expense of the Afrikan identity?”
This subject will be covered by the New Afrikan anti-imperialist
Political Prisoners over a period of time. In short revolutionary
tracks, this New Afrikan leader, alongside of all those who support him,
will go in on the issues that face the BLM movement and what is to be
done in order to paint a more clear picture for New Afrikans. This will
be done in using language geared towards reaching prisoners, former
prisoners and the righteous supporters of the anti-imperialist prison
abolishment movement. We who are most affected by this principal
contradiction within the United $tates; Oppressor Nation Integration
(ONI) vs. Proletarian Nationalist Independence (PNI).
Jumping off the porch from the perspective of #If Black Lives Matter
(#BLM) FREE LARRY HOOVER, FREE SHY C, FREE EUGENIE HARISON, FREE JEFF
FORT, etc. FREE THE LUMPEN organizations and their leaders who for far
too long bit the bullet for being the cause of the destruction of the
inner city semi-colonies of the oppressor nation known as amerikkka. We
who are truly the last hired and the first fired, we step to the plate
speaking in plain language, asking the right questions. Like, if the CIA
is responsible for all the drugs and firearms being circulated in the
hood, why are we the ones who sit in prison since Black Lives Matter!?
We read publications, like The New Jim Crow by Michelle
Alexander, that goes to describe the racial caste system of imperialist
nations as the pit of class divides in the amerikkkas, but we go to the
root issue of this class divide misinformation with the question of how
could there be a class divide within an exploiter nation?
The whole matter is that really, we just want a bigger slice of the pie,
but at whose expense? If Black Lives Matter, why settle for being black?
Why not consider oneself to be in solidarity with a nation of its own,
separate and unequal to that of its previous slave masters (oppressors),
when we in all actuality just want to replace the slave masters only so
that we may become them; Police bullies, gossip columnists, fake
doctors, tax agents and bill collectors. We ain’t doing nothing but
reforming the beast (exploiter nation) that we love to hate. So in
essence, the same crackers we claim is at the root of our suffering, the
same bleach we claim to be destroying our skin, we’re putting it on. We
have become the beast. So why do Black Lives really Matter? Not until
Black Lives become Afrikan, they don’t.
This is the objective of this build, to destroy the misinformation
spread throughout the prison yards, and the New Afrikan neighborhoods,
done so to keep those of us who really suffer as a result of the
oppressor nation’s strategy to keep them (the so-called criminals, gang
members and terrorists) uneducated about national liberation, un-united
with those who share a similar national hardship/oppression, and
dependent on the bourgeoisie exploitation systems of anti-socialism.
It is most imperative for those who hold most dear to the identity of
Black Lives Matter to go to the root of this idea and relay the
foundation of the identity of ancestral reality. Fighting over class
positions that translate into a bigger slice of the pie, stolen from us
in the first place, will get us no closer to the national identity
determination and independence we so rightfully hope for. Only, that
hope is false if we fall into the trap trick that selling our soul by
becoming integrationist with the pig state that we will achieve national
liberation. Remember, the pie (the systems like welfare, social
security, income taxes) the exploiters created off the backs of we the
People and our natural resources. If Black Lives Matter, why is it a
crime for Blacks to consider themselves Original People (True/Native
Ameriqans) or Asiatic Africans? Moors or Maroons & Caribbs?
Why do those who proclaim leadership or stewardship for the Black
empowerment identity find themselves enemies of the state, that their
own so-called people work hard with to maintain their Black Wall Street?
Since we’re on the topic, what happened to Black Wall Street? Did it
really disappear, or did it turn up in Chicago with Oprah Winfrey, Louis
Farrakhan and the ‘Occupy Wall Street Movement’? A lot of groups ain’t
gonna like how we are connecting the dots to expose those who are most
in need of the truth, that is the root reason for voices of the truly
oppressed not being heard by the international supporters of
anti-imperialism. But, we don’t have nothing to lose because we never
sold out, so it doesn’t matter who don’t like us.
We speak the People’s & Kinsfolk’s language (Block talk) because we
are amongst them that are traveling in the murky waters, struggling with
an objective solely rooted in delivering the message of Maoist culture
in a way the People and Folks will comprehend it.
Knowing that we cannot free our people of their psychological
enslavement without first addressing the national identity of WE as a
socialist people. USW works from a bottom up vantage. We build from the
inside out. Concentrating on the communities around us to develop
independent systems of education, communication, economics and control.
In my last article on China I rehashed the 40-year old argument that
China abandoned the socialist road, with some updated facts and
figures.(1) The article started as a review of the book Is China an
Imperialist Country? by N.B. Turner, but left most of that question
to be answered by Turner’s book.
We did not publish that article to push some kind of struggle against
Chinese imperialism. Rather, as we explained, it was an attack on the
promotion of revisionism within the forum www.reddit.com/r/communism,
and beyond. The forum’s most-enforced rule is that only Marxists are
allowed to post and participate in discussion there. Yet almost daily,
posts building a persynality cult around Chinese President Xi Jinping,
or promoting some supposed achievement of the Chinese government, are
allowed and generally receive quick upvotes.
The title of our previous article asking is China in 2017 Socialist or
Imperialist may be misunderstood to mean that China must be one or the
other. This is not the case. Many countries are not socialist but are
also not imperialist. In the case of China, however, it is still
important (so many years after it abandoned socialism) to clarify that
it is a capitalist country. And so our positive review of a book
discussing Chinese imperialism, became a polemic against those arguing
it is socialist.
One of the major contradictions in the imperialist era is the
inter-imperialist contradiction. The United $tates is the dominant
aspect of this contradiction as the main imperialist power in the world
today. And currently Russia and China are growing imperialist powers on
the other side of this inter-imperialist contradiction. Reading this
contradiction as somehow representative of the class contradiction
between bourgeoisie and proletariat or of the principal contradiction
between oppressed nations and oppressor nations would be an error.
We have continued to uphold that
China
is a majority exploited country, and an oppressed nation.(2) But
China is a big place. Its size is very much related to its position
today as a rising imperialist power. And its size is what allows it to
have this dual character of both a rising imperialist class and a
majority proletariat and peasantry. Finally, its size is part of what
has allowed an imperialist class to rise over a period of decades while
insulating itself from conflict with the outside world – both with
exploiter and exploited nations.
A major sign that a country is an exploiting country is the rise and
subsequent dominance of a non-productive consumer class. At first, the
Chinese capitalists depended on Western consumers to grease the wheels
of their circulation of capital. While far from the majority, as in the
United $tates and Europe, China has more recently begun intentionally
developing a domestic consumer class.(3) This not only helps secure the
circulation of capital, but begins to lay the groundwork for unequal
exchange that would further favor China in its trade with other
countries. Unequal exchange is a mechanism that benefits the rich First
World nations, and marks a more advanced stage of imperialism than the
initial stages of exporting capital to relieve the limitations of the
nation-state on monopoly capitalism. As we stated in the article cited
above, China’s size here becomes a hindrance in that it cannot become a
majority exploiter country, having 20% of the world’s population,
without first displacing the existing exploiter countries from that
role. Of course, this will not stop them from trying and this will be a
contradiction that plays out in China’s interactions with the rest of
the world and internally. At the same time with an existing “middle
class” that is 12-15% of China’s population, they are well on their way
to building a consumer class that is equal in size to that of
Amerika’s.(3)
In our last article, we hint at emerging conflicts between China and
some African nations. But the conflict that is more pressing is the
fight for markets and trade dominance that it faces with the United
$tates in the Pacific region and beyond. China remains, by far, the
underdog in this contradiction, or the rising aspect. But again, its
size is part of what gives it the ability to take positions independent
of U.$. imperialism.
As we stated in our most recent article, this contradiction offers both
danger and opportunity. We expect it to lead to more support for
anti-imperialist forces as the imperialists try to undercut each other
by backing their enemies. Then, as anti-imperialism strengthens, the
imperialists will face more global public opinion problems in pursuing
their goals of exploitation and domination. In other words, a rising
imperialist China bodes well for the international proletariat. Not
because China is a proletarian state, but because the era of U.$.
hegemony must end for a new era of socialism to rise. We should be clear
with people about the definitions of imperialism and socialism to make
this point.
China’s potential to play a progressive role in the world in coming
years does not change the fact that the counter-revolution led by Deng
Xiaoping dismantled the greatest achievement towards reaching communism
so far in history. If we do not learn from that very painful setback,
then we are not applying the scientific method and we will not even know
what it is that we are fighting for. How and when socialism ended in
China is a question that is fundamental to Maoism.
I was going over some points about integrationalism from a magnificent
work by RADS called
Chican@ Power
and the Struggle for Aztlán. What I read talked about the rise in
the percentage of Chicanos joining the military. (Between 2000 and 2004,
Latinos went from 10.4% of new military recruits to 13.0%, pg. 132.) It
goes on to talk about the key of the struggle of the oppressed nation
is: “National liberation!” Not an integrationist approach into an entity
with the whites who make up the majority of military troops. (My
emphasis)
I believe that the “civil rights” theory of sharing what whites are
privileged at or enjoy, tho’ may equal some form of equality, will not
equal liberation from oppression of the people.
The overall goal is to overthrow imperialism and their exploitation of
the proletariat and their oppression of mankind, not to have a “civil
right” to also be able to exploit and oppress and have a piece of the
imperialist pie. In the end game we must obtain communism through
socialism.
I think many get lost in the sauce of “civil rights” stimuli and become
confused about how we should end oppression and genocide of our
folks.
Not only is it our duty to refrain from getting caught up in the “civil
rights hype” and use the materialist method, but also what comes with
the territory of staying true to our politics is that we must also
correct those of the stock who do fall for the civil rights approach
when trying to escape or put an end to imperialist madness. This same
stock I speak of are some of the same folks who could also make up some
of the potential to join the ranks of the people’s army.